For the latest Nexus Graphica, Mark London Williams and I revealed our top 5 selections for the best graphic novels of the year.
Swing over to SF Site to read the reasons behind our selections.
The Other Half of the Best was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon
| Quote: |
| “My name’s Billy Batson. But maybe it’s too dangerous to be Billy Batson anymore …” |
“Who did this to you?”
This book features the first meeting of Superman and Captain Marvel and collects isues 1 – 4 of the First Thunder mini-series. I wouldn’t normally buy a Superman book but I bought this one because it was written by Judd Winick whose work on Blood + Water and Under the Hood I really liked. The art was by an unknown to me – Joshua Middleton.
A gang who has been stealing European artifacts from museums across the country make a successful hit on a museum in Metropolis. When they turn up in Fawcett City, Superman is there to lend a hand to Captain Marvel but they fail to stop the raid or apprehend the gang. Fawcett City’s equivalent of Lex Luther, Dr.Thaddeus Sivana, has hired the gang to raise a demonic version of Captain Marvel to destroy a promising solar energy project. Meanwhile he has swallowed his pride and turned to Lex Luthor for help in hunting down Captain Marvel and his weaknesses so that he can eliminate him.
This book is set mere months after Billy Batson has been given the power of Shazam and marks the first meeting between Captain Marvel and Superman. It starts off as a piece of typical superhero nonsense with Captain Marvel pleased and overawed to be meeting and beating up bad guys with the legend that is Superman. However, the book takes a darker twist towards the end when Silvana’s attempt to assassinate Billy leaves his best friend fighting for his life. Winick takes us from the light to the dark with a great story about the loss of innocence and a boy alone forced to grow up too fast. I’m not a big Superman fan but Winick does a good job of making me want to read more. The only weak point in the story is after the raiders escape from the Fawcett City museum by conjuring up a couple of demons that the heroes have to deal with. After defeating the demons they go off for a chat on Mount Everest rather than trying to hunt down the criminals which didn’t seem right. The art by Middleton is great and in that modern clean style reminiscent of Frank Quitely’s work. I will definitely look out for more from him as well as Winick.
| Quote: |
| That broad of yours. She … she once told me you were the only man on this island with … with an ounce of mercy. Whatever happened to that guy? |
This book collects issues 1-3 of Wolverine: Logan by writer Brian K. Vaughan and artist Eduardo Risso. I know Vaughan primarily from his excellent work on Y: The Last Man and I have also read a couple of volumes of Ex Machina. Risso is rapidly becoming one of my favourite artists for work on 100 Bullets, Vampire Boy and currently Spaceman.
Wolverine journeys to Japan with his memories newly restored to him. While there he has to confront the ghosts of his past from 1945 as well those that linger in the present. In the 1945 story line, Logan wakes up in a cell with an American named Warren in a Japanese PoW camp. Together they escape but soon part ways over a disagreement over whether or not to kill a civilian woman they come across. Warren returns to kill Logan and the woman and is found to have similar abilities to Logan in that he seemingly cannot be killed. But before Logan can exact vengeance for the death of his lover, the Americans arrive to bomb the nearby city.
This is a great book but with one slight qualm. I am a bit uneasy that the background of this book is the dropping of an atomic bomb on Hiroshima. While there is nothing particularly distasteful in the story it only seems to added to, firstly, show that Wolverine can survive a nuclear explosion and, secondly, to create a powered opponent for him to smack down in the present at the end of the book. It is this second aspect that is particularly shabby to me as the character, Warren, while not portrayed in the best light in the 1945 sequence is just as much a product of his circumstances and nature as Wolverine himself. Maybe if they had more space to examine Warren and Logan as two sides of the same coin then maybe I would have had accepted it more.
Risso’s art is great again. The book contains some unused pages in black and white that are even better. He is an artist whose style is well suited to balck and white only – you can see (and buy) most of the pages from this book in black and white on his web site – including some that don’t seem to be in the collected volume. Having said that some of the coloured pages are superb – especially in the third chapter. Well worth the admission price.
[ 
Currently: Listening to Off the Ball ]
| Quote: |
| Hmmm … Why is it always in the bloody sewers? |
This book collects issues 0 – 4 of Wormwood: Gentlemen Corpse by writer/artist Ben Templesmith. I am a fan of Templesmith’s art from his 30 Days of Night books but I think this is my first exposure to him as a writer as well.
Wormwood is a trans-dimensional worm who inhabits, and animates, a corpse – usually visible in the corpse’s right eye socket. He is a paranormal investigator along with his non-drinking buddy, and robot, Pendulum and hired gun, and ex-lap dancer, Phoebe. When he gets a visit from ghost cop, Trotsky, Wormwood finds himself invovled in a case invovling erectile dysfunction pills causing the rapid and violent births of tentacle-faced demons.
I thought that this was a great book full of humour and bizarre situations. How these characters come to exist and function in the world is not really explained but if you are willing to accept the set up then this is a fun read. The art from Templesmith is great as ever. I love his style with minimalist backgrounds and beautiful colouring – horror books never looked so pretty before. I look forward to reading more adventures of Wormwood and some of Templesmith’s other solo works.
| Quote: |
| Yessss, I too wasss a boy oncce – though of courssse I wasss far from normal, even then … |
This book collects the twelve part story from the first volume of the Judge Dredd Megazine, the anthology comic from 2000AD set in the Judge Dredd universe. The story was written by Judge Dredd creator John Wagner. The art was the first introduction of Peter Doherty to a wide audience. Doherty has continued to illustrate stories in 2000AD and the Judge Dredd Megazine but does not seem to have done much beyond this.
Set after the Necropolis story line in 2000AD, this story explores the early life of Judge Death as recounted to an unfortunate Mega-City journalist. Young Sidney is a sociopath in the making whose world view is reinforced by his father – a sadistic, psychopathic dentist. On turning his father over to the judges for a series of murders, Sidney joins the judges and refines his world view in which crime is committed by the living and so the living should be punished. Upon graduating he discovers two death cultists who help him complete his vision by removing the paradox of his continued living while sentencing others to death for the same “crime”.
I love Judge Death stories for two reasons. First of all they tend to feature an appearance of psi-Judge Anderson who I adore. Secondly he is, in many ways, the ultimate villain for Judge Dredd in the same way that the Joker is for Batman. I think that there are many similarities between the Joker and Judge Death: the fixed rictus grin; the disregard for human life; the dark humour associated with the characters. The humour in this story ranges from the lightly comical, in the shape of Death’s extremely short-sighted landlady, Mrs Gunderson, to the extremely black exploration of Sidney’s childhood environment. Although this a very good story, I have never been convinced that it was really necessary. I am happy to accept the Dark Judges for what they are and the detailing of an origin does little for my perception of the character – it is hard to imagine ever feeling sympathy for any of the Dark Judges and the choices they made. However, it is still a classic story that is worth reading if you like your humour on the black side and for the art of Peter Doherty.
Due to the Thanksgiving holiday and a particularly hectic schedule at the Geek Compound (more on that in future posts), I’m just getting around to telling y’all about my recent 20 second brush with fame.
Unbeknownst to most of you, I like to shop for groceries. At first blush, that would seem pretty weird unless you factor in that I like to eat (a lot!) and that my first job was sacking groceries for Randall’s in Houston. For over four years, I worked at the Dairy Ashford & Memorial location. Because of all this (and that Brandy hates to grocery shop), I handle all the food shopping for the Geek Compound.
In mid-October during my weekly sojourn, I was approached by a familiar-looking woman. I searched my mind for who the hell she was. This isn’t that uncommon for me. After living in Austin for 24 years, I’ve met a lot of people. Problem is that even though I have a great memory for faces, names often elude me. (So if you run into me and I look dumbfounded, it’s because I’m trying to recall your name)
Turns out the well-dressed woman was the local NBC affiliate KXAN evening anchor Leslie Rhode. She stopped me because I was the only guy she could find in the grocery store who was using re-usable bags. They were doing a story on the cleanliness (or not) of the bags. She asked if she could take two of my bags to test for bacteria levels. They’d give me two brand new bags right then and return my bags after the piece ran.
Leslie Rhode
Seemed like a dumb idea for a news report but what the hell. We exchanged the bags and I continued my shopping.
Soon after, Leslie and a cameraman advanced on me. “I’ve been looking for you. We’d like to interview you on camera.” While the cameraman prepped, Leslie told me how impressed she was that I did all the grocery shopping. Apparently her husband can’t be trusted to do it right. They interviewed me for a few minutes.
The piece finally ran on November 21. I appear on camera for all of about 20 seconds, saying something snarky. A transcript and video are available on the KXAN site.
Our bags to be tested are on the far right.
Bags, Bacteria, TV, and Me was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon
For the latest Nexus Graphica, Mark London Williams and I revealed our bottom half (10-6) selections of the best graphic novels of the year.
Swing over to SF Site to read the reasons behind our selections.
Half of the Best was originally published on The Geek Curmudgeon